Electro-magnetic carbon pile regulators



Dec. 1, 1959 A. STAMBERGER ELECTRO-MAGNETIC CARBON FILE REGULATORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec. 22. 1953 Dec. 1, 1959 A- STAMBERGER 2,915,726

ELECTROMAGNETIC. CARBON FILE REGULATORS Original Filed Dec. 22. 1953 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 1, 1959 A. STAMBERGER 2,915,726

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC CARBON FILE REGULATORS Original Filed Dec. 22. 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet .5

United States Patent ELECTRO-MAGNETIC CARBON PILE REGULATORS Andrew Stamberger, Brockley, London, England, assigno'r to J. Stone & Company (Deptford) Limited, Depttord, London, England Continuation of application Serial No. 399,794, Decemher 22, 1953, now Patent No. 2,828,395, dated March 25, 1958. This application December 18, 1956, Serial No. 629,134

Claims priority, application Great Britain December 31, 1952 4 Claims. (Cl. 338- 52) This application has been divided from and is a continuation of application Serial No. 399,794 filed on December 22, 1953, now Patent No. 2,828,395.

The invention concerns improvements relating to electromagnetic carbon-pile regulators having the magnet system enclosed in a casing, especially regulators having the pile and magnet system sealed in an inert atmosphere.

An electro-magnetic carbon-pile regulator in accordance with the invention comprises a magnet system enclosed in a casing, a fixed abutment of the pile is connected to the fixed part of the said magnet system inside the said casing by way of tie rods, which pass through the said casing, the eflective length of at least one of the said tie rods being adjustable. By this means, the distance between the said abutment and magnet system can be readily adjusted in order to compensate for change in the length of the pile. In the case of a sealed regulator, moreover, this adjustment can be effected without the necessity for unsealing the regulator.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be more fully described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a carbon-pile regulator with a casing removed and with the pile shown in axial section.

Figure 2 is an axial section, on the line II-II in Figure 4, through the pile-compressing mechanism,

Figure 3 a plan view to a smaller scale and intended only to indicate the relative positions of the main components,

Figure 4 a cross section on the line IV-IV in Figure 1, and

Figure 5 a perspective view of a bimetal device.

In the regulator illustrated, the magnet system and the pile-compressing mechanism are enclosed in a casing in the form of a cylindrical can 1 (shown by a chain line in Figure 1) having the end 2 toward the pile outwardly domed and made, for example, of magnetic martensitic stainless steel. The pile 4, composed of small diameter discs 5, guided in a ceramic sheath 6 is enclosed in a metal tube 7 shrunk upon the sheath 6 and located coaxially with the can 1. To minimise heat conduction between the pile 4 and magnet system in the can 1, the metal tube 7 is extended towards the can by a coaxial tube 8, made for example of poorly conducting austenitic stainless steel, which is soldered into the tube 7 and into an inturned, central, funnel-shaped portion 9 (Figure 2) of the adjacent domed cover.2 of the can. The cover 2 is separate from the body of the can 1 and is soldered into it by means of a flange 10.

The outer end of the tube 7 is tightly closed by a terminal seal 15 forming a fixed abutment for the pile 4, the seal being covered by a protective cap 11. The can 1 and tubes 7, 8 thus form a completely sealed container the Whole of which is filled with an inert atmosphere.

This is preferably a gas or a gas mixture with a high viscosity and thermal conductivity. A suitable gas is helium.

To avoid danger of local overheating with consequent risk of fire, especially on aircraft, the maximum temperature rise anywhere on the outside of the regulator should be as low as possible. A robust jacket with fins 12 and a core 14 sufiioiently thick to obtain as low a temperature rise as possible, is therefore employed. Preferably, it is pressure die-cast around the tube 7 enclosing the pile 4, thus ensuring uniform high thermal conductivity between the tube and jacket and also rendering machining of mating surfaces unnecessary.

The fixed abutment 15 at the sealed outer end of the tube 7, that is the fixed end of the pile 4, is connected to the fixed magnet structure and is located in relation to the whole magnet system by way of the outer-end fin 16 of the jacket and a number of spaced tie rods 17 extending with clearance through holes 18 in the other fins 12 and passing by way of sealed connections 19 with the cover 2 into the interior of the can 1 where they are connected to lugs 20 on an end part 21 of the fixed structure supporting the magnet system. The tie rods 17 form a rigid connection between the several parts and avoid the possibility of lost motion in the pile-compressing mechanism when the pile 4 is compressed. The rods 17 may be made of a metal with a coefiicient of expansion suitable for ensuring temperature compensation for relative thermal expansion of the carbon pile 4. In this case, the domed shape of the cover 2 also assists in minimising stresses caused by difference in thermal expansion between the rods 17 and the tubes 7, 8. The end fin 16 is made of dished shape, with the concavity outwards, in order to increase its rigidity and also to afford protection to the seal at the outer end of the tube 7.

Necessary readjustment for eventual change in the length of the pile 4 may be permitted without unsealing the regulator by providing for external adjustment of the relative positions of the magnet system and abutment 15, that is the fixed end of the pile. This may be done by providing adjustable screw connections between the tie rods 17 and the end fin 16. Preferably and as illustrated for the lower rod 17 in Figure 1, however, one or each of the tie rods is composed of two stud portions 17 17 screwed with threads of different pitch into a sleeve nut portion 17 Turning of the nut portion 17 will thus adjust the effective length of the tie rod. The adjusted position can be locked by means of lock nuts 17. In this case, not only the inner end of the stud is fixed, namely in the lug 20, but also the outer end in the fin 16, as by a key 23. As the necessary adjustment is slight, it can be produced by varying the length of one tie rod only. In any case, the resultant slight movement of the pile enclosure and tube 8 in relation to the fixed magnet structure and can 1 is readily accommodated by the flexibility of the domed cover 2.

The pile is arranged to be compressed through a strut 24 acted upon by the magnet system through pile-compressing mechanism which is more fully described in the specification of the aforesaid application No. 399,794. For the present purpose, it need only be said that the magnet system consists of a horseshoe magnet 55 clamped to a supporting structure 21 and carrying a Winding or windings 56 and an armature 42 carried by a clapper structure 41 p votally mounted on the supporting structure 21 by means of a hinge comprising crossed leaf springs 45, 46. The clapper structure acts upon the carbon pile 4 through the strut 24 in such a manner as to reduce the compression in the pile as the armature 42 is attracted by the magnet 55. Attraction of the armature is opposed by the main control spring of the regulator which may be a helical tension spring 49 as shown.

The fixed anchorage 50 for the spring can be set and adjusted by means of a nut 51 on a screw 52 mounted in a cross-piece 53 secured to the fixed structure 21. The movable anchorage 54 of the spring acts upon the clapper structure 41 through a bimetal temperature-compensation device 60, 61 described in he specification of our copending application No. 629,135 filed December 18, 1956.

I claim:

1. An electro-magnetic carbon-pile regulator, comprising a magnet system, a casing which encloses the said magnet system, a carbon pile, an enclosure within which the pile is located, an abutment for the pile fixed at one end of said enclosure which, at the other end, is connected to and communicates with the said casing, the part of the said casing to which the said enclosure is connected being flexible, tie rods extending from the said one end of the said enclosure to the fixed part of the magnet system, and means for adjusting the effective length of at least one of the said tie rods.

2. A regulator according to claim 1, wherein said pile is disposed in a finned jacket connected to the fixed part of the magnet system by the tie rods, which are fixed to the said fixed part of the magnet system inside the said casing and to the end of the finned jacket remote from the magnet system, the said tie rods passing through the adjacent end of the said casing by way of sealing means.

3. A regulator according to claim 1, wherein the end, toward the pile, of the casing for the magnet system comprises an outwardly domed cover.

4. A regulator according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the tie rods comprises two stud portions screwed into a nut portion with threads of different pitch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,332,140 Finnegan Oct. 19, 1943 2,446,624 Allison Aug. 10, 1948 2,509,106 Neuner May 23, 1950 

